58 replies to this topic

[Gregory2455]

Pretty small for any Camponotus!

[dspdrew]

Not Myrmentoma, which C. quercicola are not.

[James C. Trager]

The queen does not look like (Myrmentoma), though she's about the right size. I would still like to see a good clear face view, with the outer clypeal margin and malar hairs in crisp focus. Of course, major or submajor workers would be best for identification, as usual for this genus. 

Edited by James C. Trager, October 19 2014 - 5:46 AM.

[dspdrew]

Yeah, we may get great microscope pictures of her in the near future I'm afraid, and likely no worker shots. This queen is just not producing anything, and I'm sure will just die eventually. Of course I've had a C. anthrax queen now for a year and a half, with no workers at all for most of that time, and she just keeps on living, so who knows.

[Gregory2455]

What happened to the worker in the image?

[dspdrew]

It died.

[Gregory2455]

[dspdrew]

Update 11-22-2014
 
Since this queen was found in fairly high elevations along with the other ants I have hibernated, I have decided to hibernate her, and she is now in the fridge.

[Chromerust]

So the mystery queen I gave you wasn't one of these? At least she had some larvae you could of worked with

[dspdrew]

I already told you. She was a Camponotus vicinus--the all-black one I mentioned in my C. vicinus journal.

[Chromerust]

Sorry I guess I hadn't read that update yet


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[dspdrew]

Update 12-7-2014
 
I found the queen dead today, as her test tube was too close to the back of the fridge where it freezes. The tube was frozen solid, with the queen half way submerged in ice.

[Gregory2455]

Weird, wouldn't you think that they are more resilient to ice in the wild too, as flooding obviously can occur in nature.

[dspdrew]

Haha, it was halfway sticking out of an ice cube. I don't think there was much hope at that point.

[James C. Trager]

Sometimes, boosting such non-productive queens with worker pupae helps.

Edited by James C. Trager, December 8 2014 - 4:48 AM.

[dspdrew]

The queen does not look like (Myrmentoma), though she's about the right size. I would still like to see a good clear face view, with the outer clypeal margin and malar hairs in crisp focus. Of course, major or submajor workers would be best for identification, as usual for this genus. 

Since this queen died, I was able to get microscope pictures of her. You can see them here (http://forum.formicu...21-2014/?p=9034).

[dspdrew]

Update 4-5-2019
 
I saw a huge flight of this same species on 4-1-2019 along the San Juan Loop Trail off Ortega Highway in the Santa Ana Mountains. They started flying just before it got dark and I ended up collecting 17 of them. There were so many of them, I could have collected as many as I wanted, but I stopped at 17 because that was all the containers I had left while out on the trail.
 

 

 

 
 
Founding chamber
 

[TennesseeAnts]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but could these be a hybrid of C. quercicola and something else?

[dspdrew]

I'm guessing probably not.

[Acutus]

Beautiful!!! the gaster looks like it's outlined in gold!